Kevin Magnussen, Friday

Jean-Eric Vergne, Saturday

Special skid blocks were added to Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Rosberg’s cars during the first practice session in an effort to create more sparks – part of F1’s attempts to ‘improve the show’. But as Jean-Eric Verne’s Toro Rosso proved, F1 cars do still generate ‘natural’ sparks.

Niki Lauda, Sunday

Niki Lauda didn’t compete in the 1976 Austrian Grand Prix for Ferrari as he was recovering from the burns he sustained in his near-fatal crash at the Nurburgring two weeks earlier. He got back in his 312T2 during the build-up to the race.

Fans, Sunday

Tickets for the Austrian Grand Prix sold out quickly when it was restored to the calendar thanks to the circuit’s new owners Red Bull.

Williams, Austrian Grand Prix

Start, Austrian Grand Prix

Starting from pole position for the first time since the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, Felipe Massa kept his lead at the start. Further back Lewis Hamilton got off the line very quickly and was up to fourth behind the two Williams drivers and his team mate by the end of the first lap.

Sergio Perez, Austrian Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg jumped ahead of the two Williams cars via his first pit stop. But Sergio Perez in the Force India delayed his first pit stop which allowed him to temporarily lead the race.

Sebastian Vettel, Austrian Grand Prix

Red Bull’s home race was an event to forget. Sebastian Vettel was delayed by another engine problem early in the race, and he was eventually retired to save mileage on his Renault power unit.

Nico Rosberg, Austrian Grand Prix

It took until the final stint of the race for Mercedes to assume their usual one-two positions. This time it was Rosberg who held sway, though Hamilton put him under pressure in the final laps.

Exactly, it’s not like the cars have totally stopped rubbing against the road, the FIA arbitrarily changed the rules, introduced the wood like resin plank, that stopped the sparks from underneath the car.

Some other rules were changed as well, that stopped the teams using the “natural” performance solutions, that led to sparks.

It was done for other reasons, than to get rid of sparks, and although those problems still exist, they can be solved by different rules, that does still allow teams to run skid blocks at places and in ways they are not allowed now.

I understand that in the eyes of F1 fans the governing body has become an evil force. But it is ridiculous to start slating every thought, comment and proposition they make without properly assessing it, which is what a lot of people have started doing.

@greg – that’s ok mate. I would say that I may have had a little tear watching Daniel get his first win as my almost 8 year old son watched his first F1 race live at 3am Australian time………… but its seems a hard crowd so harden up soft boy!! :)

Love the photos of Niki in his old car- I love the drivers getting in their old car, and even one of my Fav’s like Gerhard driving a Reb Bull and Seb has a crack at his 1988 or 89 car- I love that. So many current F1 drivers respecting the “old school” when a few years back they were not being as respectful (IMHO).